KARINE AND MARIE (CONTINUED), THE END OF THE DAY’S SHOOTING

MARIE 2

…Anyway, it’s too late to back out. I said I’d go to salsa, so I will. Boy, what an idiot!

KARINE

You told him that?

MARIE 2

Yes.

KARINE

Why?

MARIE 2

I figured… I could come off sorta sensual. Yeah, it’s stupid, I know.

KARINE

What do you mean?

MARIE 2

I wanted to seem like someone who feels things… sensations, you know? Maybe eventually sexuality even, ’cause that really matters these days, doesn’t it?

KARINE

What’s his name?

MARIE 2

Romain.

KARINE

What’s he do?

MARIE 2

Actor, but he doesn’t like presenting himself as one thing or another. That’s what attracted me to him.

KARINE

So you said you were learning salsa?

MARIE 2

Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to interest him for more than, say, three minutes tops by talking about my thesis, am I? And that’s all the life I have right now, so I had to invent some sort of sensual pastime, right?

KARINE

So you’re coming tonight?

MARIE 2

Yes.

KARINE

You’re gonna like it. Just wait.

MARIE 2

I doubt it, but I don’t really have any choice, do I?

KARINE

Why?

MARIE 2

He’s coming to pick me up after.

KARINE

What?

MARIE 2

What? What’s wrong?

KARINE

He’s picking you up?

MARIE 2

Yes.

KARINE

Like for a drink?

MARIE 2

Kinda.

KARINE

That’s fantastic! I’m so happy for you.

MARIE 2

No need to be condescending, you’re insinuating that I’m a lost cause.

KARINE

Huh?

MARIE 2

You shout it out like it’s beyond the realm of possibility some guy could actually be picking me up…

KARINE

C’mon, that’s not what I meant…

MARIE 2

…I don’t see why a guy wouldn’t come pick me up somewhere, just like anyone else.

KARINE

I never said he wouldn’t!

MARIE 2

Then stop making such a big deal of it. That’s stupid.

KARINE

Look, Marie, I know this makes you nervous…

MARIE 2

No, it doesn’t make me nervous! It’s not like we’re kids anymore. You don’t know what you’re talking about!

KARINE

I’m just really happy for you, that’s all…

MARIE 2

And will you stop talking so… charitably. It’s driving me nuts.

KARINE

Geez, I’m going to tell you something, Marie: me and my charity are what got you this upgrade into an actual part. If I hadn’t been there, you’d still be a ghost like all the others.

MARIE 2

I don’t care if I’m a ghost!

KARINE

No way! No one wants to stay a ghost!

MARIE 2

I’m telling you, I really don’t mind being a ghost!

KARINE

So you’re telling me I went to all that trouble for nothing?

MARIE 2

Yes!

KARINE

Because you just can’t deal with other people, is that it, Marie?

MARIE 2

Other people get on my nerves.

KARINE

Well, other people are just going to leave you all alone, if that’s what you want. All alone.

She stalks off, furious.

MARIE desperately shouts after her to come back.

MARIE 1

Excuse me, Karine! I’m sorry!

MARIE 2

(running after her) …I know I’m incapable of gratitude and acknowledgement. It’s a huge problem for me, and it gets me into all kinds of trouble! Don’t you think I’d change that in myself if I could? It’s not my fault, Karine, it’s just my temperament!

MARIE 1

In the period before the Renaissance, the melancholic temperament was explained by the circulation of black bile in the veins that led to contamination of the blood. As a result, people tried to isolate and remove this infection as though it were the origin of all sins… melancholia was a fault that distracted one from God. It was supposedly the source of laziness and inertia that led one to neglect God. Thus adoration was replaced by a “horrible ecstasy,” an “exalted daydreaming,” a “retreat into oneself.”

It’s still condemned nowadays, but the dogma is different: it’s a social affliction. So a melancholic disposition now no longer keeps one from God, but from the prescribed happiness of interacting with Others. The melancholic individual always seems to find that Others are far better-adapted to life; they are to be envied, they are fascinating and yet mildly contemptible. A melancholic derives a secret vanity from his sadness.

MARIE 2

I do not derive secret vanity from my sadness!

MARIE 1

Then why is the melancholic individual so deeply attached to his pain? Why is distress more valuable than life itself? Why does he accept, even welcome, this total avoidance of moderation?

MARIE 2

(to herself) What a load of crap: “A melancholic derives a secret vanity from his sadness…” Sheesh!